Schoolgirl (Modern Japanese Classics)

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She is a girl on the brink of adulthood, intelligent and sincere and a little bit selfish, and not without her share of troubles and worry.

But it is less the actions of the protagonist and more her adolescent ruminations which draw the reader into Osamu Dazai’a slim novella.Yet, earlier when pursued by leering men, she thinks ‘ I wish I would hurry up and grow stronger and purer so that such a trifling matter would no longer afflict me,’ and she is frequently repulsed by her own childish habits and thoughts early in the novel, wanting to be more of an adult. Schoolgirl takes place entirely in the course of one day, and from the very moment the narrator first opens her bleary eyes in the morning, it’s apparent the day will be an emotional roller-coaster: “Mornings seem forced to me. I only ever think of myself, I thought, I let myself be coddled by her to my heart’s content, and then take such a reckless attitude with her.

The format of a girl talking to herself is presented by Motosaku, a Dazai Osamu fan as well; a girls of the modern day's heart also will resound as the finishing touches are applied to this work. It's like a carp or an eel is tugging on a fishing line, or something heavy like a lead weight is pulling on the line that I'm holding with my head, and as I doze off to sleep, the line slackens up a bit. Schoolgirl is a literary work which appears simple on the surface, but explores themes of identity, family and grief. The reader may not be able to get away with an inevitable feeling that Osamu Dazai is perhaps not only the story teller but also a participant here- as it is the case with most of the books by Dazai. The latter is certainly true with Dazai, whose works all seem to be semi-autobiographical in nature, even (as is the case with Schoolgirl-女生徒) when the protagonist of the story is a young girl.

One moment she is ‘ distressed, like there wasn’t any reason left to live,’ only to become fixated and uplifted by a gorgeous sky and think ‘ I want to live beautifully. It is also a tricky one to pin down as the opinions fluctuate so much, which is part of it’s dark beauty in exploring the nuances of life and existential despair. It may require courage to say what they said, but were they really able to take responsibility for the consequences?